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Sochi and the 2014 Olympics: Game Over? Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2013 Sochi and the 2014 olympics: Game over? Edited by: Müller, Martin Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-86110 Edited Scientific Work Published Version Originally published at: Sochi and the 2014 olympics: Game over? Edited by: Müller, Martin (2013). St. Gallen: Center for Governance and Culture in Europe, University of St.Gallen. 12 / 2013 Sochi and the 2014 olympicS: Game over? Guest Editor Martin Müller (Zürich) the Olympic clock is ticking… neon installation when entering Sochi, august 2009. (Photograph by Martin Müller) Online Journal of the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe University of St. Gallen URL: www.gce unisg.ch, www.euxeinos.ch ISSN 2296-0708 Center for Governance and Last Update december 2, 2013 LaNdIS & GyR Culture in Europe STIftUNG University of St.Gallen contents Sochi and the 2014 Olympics: Game over? 3 ȱ¢ȱȱûǰȱ¢ȱȱǰȱ ĵȱ display Window or tripwire? the Sochi Winter Games, the Russian Great 6 Power Ideal and the Legitimacy of Vladimir Putin Bo Petersson and Karina Vamling, Malmö University, Sweden Tears in the Patchwork: the Sochi Olympics and the display of a Multieth- 15 nic Nation by Emil Persson, Lund University and Malmö University, Sweden the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Russia’s Civil Society 26 ¢ȱȱǯȱĴȱȱęȱǰȱ The George Washington University, USA Life On the Ground: a Comparative analysis of two Villages in Sochi du- 36 ring Olympic transformation by Sven Daniel Wolfe, European University at St. Petersburg, Russia Publishing Information/Contact 47 Euxeinos 12 (2013) 2 Sochi and the 2014 olympics: Game over? e are going to build a new world-class when compared to the Summer Games. a Wresort for the new Russia – and the recent initiative, spearheaded by Boris Nem- whole world!” thus was the promise of Vladi- cov, unveiled some grotesque cost-overruns: mir Putin when he made the pitch for the 2014 the ski jumps, for example, came in at almost Winter Olympic Games in front of the Inter- seven times the initial cost projection (Nem- ȱ ¢ȱ Ĵȱ ȱ ȱ cov and Martynjuk 2013). What is more, nu- in 2007. His speech, delivered in English and merous lucrative contracts were awarded to Editorial french, did not fail to impress, nor did the oil- cronies of ruling elites, driving up costs even and gas-fuelled record growth rates in excess further and signalling the self-serving char- of 8% that Russia logged in 2006 and 2007. ȱ ȱ ȱ ǯȱ Ěȱ ȱ ȱ the IOC members awarded Russia the much- ungovernability of the event, the chief of the coveted prize of becoming an Olympic host state company responsible for delivering the city, snubbing contenders Salzburg and Py- construction for the Winter Games, Olimpstroj, eongchang. Not mincing words, the Russian was replaced three times in four years. 1.5 mil- newspaper Vedomosti put what it perceived as ȱȱȱ¡ȱȱȱȱȱȱȃ ȱ ȱȱĴȱ¢DZȱȃȱ ȱ much did they steal at the Olympics in Sochi?” got convinced that there is a lot of money in ǻʈˊ˓ˏ˪ˊ˓ȱ ˙ˊ˕ʲˏˆȱ ˑʲȱ ʅˏˆː˔ˆʲʹʺȱ ʵȱ ʈ˓ˣˆǵȱ Russia – that it becomes more and more – and 2013) indicate to what degree the misman- that this man [Putin] controls it, whatever com- agement of the Olympic Games has become a pany it may formally belong to” (Vedomosti public issue. 2007). the order was a tall one: Sochi did not yet, the greatest costs of this gargantuan ȱȱȱȱȱȱ ȱęȱȱȱ project are not monetary. Originally conceived an Olympic competition. thus, it proposed to as an event for the people, the Sochi Olym- build all 14 major venues from scratch, plus a pics have become anything but. Promises of list of more than 200 objects to be constructed modernization and improvements of quality as ancillary infrastructure. the Olympics were of life ring hollow with the local population, meant to become a game changer on Russia’s ȱȱȱȱęȱȱ ȱǻûȱ road to big push modernisation. ŘŖŗŘǼǯȱĴȱȱ¢ȱȱ fast-forward six years and six months to relations between the local people and the ad- the present day. Sochi is covered in dust as ministration (Karbainov 2013). Construction workers toil in three shifts 24/7 on what is one activities have blighted the protected areas in of the largest construction sites in the world which construction was rubberstamped with ȱȱęȱȱȱȱȱȬȱȱȱ the help of a special decree. Commitments to opening ceremony on 07 february 2014. from host the greenest Games ever, enshrined in the an initial estimate of USd 12 billion, costs have bid book and communicated to the public as a skyrocketed fourfold to USd 50 billion. and ǰȱȱȱĚȱȱȱȱȱ ȱȱ¢ȱȱȱȱęȱ¢ǯȱȱȱȱ ǻȱĴȱȱǰȱȱDzȱû- chasing records goes, this is probably the sad- ler 2014). dest one: the most expensive Olympics ever, this is the backdrop against which the Summer or Winter – even though the size and four contribution of this special issue are set. infrastructure requirements for the Winter Bo Petersson and Karina Vamling (both at Games are by numbers of magnitude smaller Malmö), who have also edited a book on the Euxeinos 12 (2013) 3 subject (Petersson and Vamling 2013) open About the Editor the suite of papers with an examination of how the Sochi Games are utilised in Russia’s Martin Müller is a geographer and Re- quest for great power status and how they are search Professor of the Swiss National Science designed to shore up legitimacy for Putin’s foundation at the University of Zurich. He role as a Russian leader. Emil Persson (also is interested in the planning and impacts of Malmö) considers the image component of the mega-events and has done extensive work on Sochi Games and the tensions behind the pro- the 2014 Winter Games in Russia (e.g. Müller jection of a harmonious, multi-ethnic nation. 2011, 2012, 2013). He is also editing a special this is of particular relevance given the out- issue on Sochi 2014 for East European Politics, right refusal to recognise or address historical to appear in 2014. In a new comparative proj- wrongs done to the Circassian nation during ect, he looks at knowledge circulation and im- and after the Caucasus wars in the area of So- pacts of the Olympic Games and the football chi (Richmond 2013). the prospects for civil World Cup in Russia and Brazil. ¢ȱ ȱ ȱ ȱ ȱ ȱ ȱ Ĵȱ ȱ e-mail: [email protected] ęȱȂȱǻȱȱǯǯǼȱ www.martin-muller.net contribution. the preparation for the Winter Games has provided ample opportunities for іяљіќєџюѝѕѦ people to voice dissent – all too often, howev- ǰȱȱĴȱǯȱȱĴȱȱȱ Karbainov, N. 2013. Kak izymajut sobst- conclude on a hopeful note, highlighting that vennost’ v olimpijskich stolicach. Mir Rossii 22 activism has been able to stall at least some (1):106–131. ǯȱ ȱȱęȱǰȱȱȱȱ Müller, M. 2013. (Im-)mobile policies: (St. Petersburg) takes us down to earth with transportation, transformation, translation, his meticulous investigation of the divergent or why the 2014 Olympics are not greening development of two villages that are caught Russia. Ĵȱȱȱȱȱ- in the middle of the Olympic development gional Studies. frenzy in Sochi – yet fall by the wayside at the ———. 2012. Popular perception of urban same time. the contributions demonstrate the transformation through mega-events: under- ȬĴȱȱȱȱ¢ȱ ȱȱ standing support for the 2014 Winter Olym- Sochi, but also drive home the point that what pics in Sochi. Environment and Planning C: Gov- was envisioned as a game changer is close to ernment and Policy 30:693–711. turning into the opposite: game over. ———. 2011. State dirigisme in megaproj- ects: governing the 2014 Winter Olympics in Martin Müller (Zürich) Sochi. Environment and Planning A 43:2091– November 2013 2108. Nemcov, B., and L. Martynjuk. 2013. Zim- ȱȱȱ. Petersson, B., and K. Vamling eds. 2013. The Sochi predicament: contexts, characteristics and challenges of the Olympic Winter Games in Euxeinos 12 (2013) 4 2014. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Pub- lishing. Richmond, W. 2013. The Circassian Geno- cide. Rutgers University Press. ǯȱ ŘŖŖŝǯȱ +ȱ DZȱ - mir Krasnaya Polyana [the face of the week: Vladimir Krasnaya Polyana]. Vedomosti 9 July. Ȃȱ ȱ ȱ ȱ ȱ ²ǵȱ ŘŖŗřǯȱ ĴDZȦȦ ǯ¢ǯȦ ǵƽ¡Ȭ £ ǭƽ¢ȏȏ¢ȱ (last accessed 2 November 2013). Euxeinos 12 (2013) 5 display Window or tripwire? the Sochi Winter Games, the russian Great power ideal and the legitimacy of vladimir putin by Bo Petersson & Karina Vamling, Malmö University, Sweden abstract President Vladimir Putin’s claim and policies to resurrect Russia as a great power have been a cornerstone for the construction of the hegemonic position of power that he has for so long successfully exerted and upheld. This paper discusses the Russian great power ambitions in relation to national identity and popu- lar appeal, and puts them in relation to the upcoming Winter Games in Sochi in 2014. The paper examines how this mega-event is discursively constructed as a manifestation of Russia’s return to great power status, and as such is meant to convey certain messages internally as well as externally. The successful carrying out of the Games would no doubt constitute an important component in the undergirding of the – otherwise dwin- dling – legitimacy of President Putin. The event would be an important display window for manifesting the prowess of the Russian great power, and the location of the Games in Sochi by the Caucasian Mountains in the Russian South would have a deeply symbolical aspect. If the Games can be successfully carried out in a region that has for so long been experienced as volatile and unruly, then it must surely mean that internal order has been restored in the Russian great power.
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